Now, in an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Trank insists he left the film voluntarily. The director recently wrapped the reboot of Fantastic Four, and said that after several years of fan scrutiny and vocal criticism (particularly over his casting Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm), he had no desire to take on another franchise picture with a large, easily upset fanbase. “I’ve been living under public scrutiny… and it’s not healthy for me right now in my life. I want to do something that’s below the radar.” Why Trank would be worried that a fanbase that’s been calling for George Lucas’ head since the moment a CGI Jabba first waddled onscreen might cause him undue stress is known only to him.

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Trank claims there are no hard feelings between him and Lucasfilm, or Simon Kinberg, who is producing both Fantastic Four and the Star Wars spinoff, as well as co-writing Four. The director also insists that the numerous rumors about him—that he behaved erratically on the set of Fantastic Four, that his dogs trashed a house he was renting, that he murdered an intergalatic bounty hunter in cold blood despite claims the bounty hunter shot first—are all just that, ugly rumors. Now that all that’s cleared up, rumors can now turn to a safer subject: who will take Trank’s place in the director’s chair.